Siding installation question

[Holm Byers]

Dear Experts,

I am planning to buy a house, new construction. I had it inspected by a professional inspector. One of the bothersome things he found is regarding the siding.

The edged of some of the siding panels got separated perhaps because of too much nailing force. Attached is the picture of the siding.

Is this OK? Will this void warranty for the siding? Can you please let me know of this is something that need to be replaced completely.


thanks
Holm Byer.

PS: I value your opinion very much since y'all saved my skin in the past wrt inspection. Great Job!!

[Ron E. Perkerewicz]

check the manufactures warranty and installation sheet for the acceptable damage that can be done without voiding the warranty. If it won't meet their standard it should be replaced.

[Holm Byers]

Thanks Ron,

I downloaded the warranty information from a couple of manufacturer and they both void warranty on faulty installation. But none of them tell whether the kind of damage I showed in the pictures is OK or not. Their instruction manuals specify the nailing methods and the contractor seems to have done that OK. Caulking, I can check and make sure he does that. Nails driven deeply are OK too as per manufacturers as long as the nail holes are caulked and painted over properly flush with the rest of the surface.

My main concern is the edges being separated into layers when nails were driven. If you look the 2nd photo you will see that he edge is frayed (term may not be correct) as shown in the blue rectangle.

I wanted to check if thats OK with Nachi members who see worse disasters every day .

Your help and opinion is greatly appreciated

[bdoles2]

How did the rest of the house look? Where there similiar problem areas? If there are only a few locations with the seperation, and it was my house I would use the proper caulk at the bottom edge of the siding and at any other exopsed area(nail heads). All to prevent any further weather intrusion.

Just my opinion. If the problem of seperation is only minor, just caulk it. If you try to deal with the manufacturer and their warranty, your going to get a huge headache and probably not get any new siding.

Good luck!

[Doug Edwards, CMI]

Just curious; who is the manufacturer of the product? It looks similar to Hardi board. I have never seen that particular product locally.

[Holm Byers]

Hi Doug and Brian,

This is a new construction. I haven't found out whether its Hardiboard or not. I remember seeing hardie labels around during construction. The construction is finished waiting final walkthru.

Home inspector observed it and advised to check if this voids warranty. So I wanted to see if this usually happens at installation. Rest of the house is well done. The problem shown is also present in a couple of areas. Bigger areas of siding like the back wall look good.

So I am wondering if this something to loose sleep over (literally) with closing data approaching.

thank you

[ROBERT W. NEWLAND, JR.]

Sorry I haven't had time to read this but it may help. It was posted here a while back. Good Luck!http://www.jameshardie.com/pdf/insta...lank_north.pdf

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by Holm Byers

So I am wondering if this something to loose sleep over (literally) with closing data approaching.

thank you

It looks kind of fiberboard-ish, but whatever it is, keep it sealed up to prevent water entry but don't loose sleep over it.

[ROBERT W. NEWLAND, JR.]

Don't think my link above worked. Try thishttp://www.jameshardie.com/pdf/install/install_plank_north.pdf

[ROBERT W. NEWLAND, JR.]

I'm using a remote computer and my edit fuction is not working. One more time. http://www.jameshardie.com/pdf/insta...lank_north.pdf

[Holm Byers]

Thanks for all the valuable advise. I am actually in the south, the great state of Texas. So I downloaded the instruction sheet for the southern regions, before I even started posting here. It actually helped to some extent to relieve my concern.

I am from technical background but not as informed as you all are on this board in house matters. I was going to get the cracks and joints caulked and painted and call it done. But if it was something that voids warranty I wanted to know before closing on the house so that I can get it repaired/replaced.

I will get the information about the manufacturers and the remedies made to fix it when done.

thanks